Activist Corey Teague said he expected Friday’s arrests to draw more people to Saturday’s demonstration.

“I think it added fuel to the fire,” said Teague. “We weren’t doing anything wrong. We were just protesting.”

The arrests took place as protesters marched along the street near the corner of Market and Main streets, a block from City Hall. At first, there was little sign of police officers at the rally, as a result of what law enforcement officials described as a strategy to keep the peace by having a minimal show of force.

But officers on motorcycles suddenly appeared and cut off the marchers. Officers grabbed Zellie Thomas of Paterson and Hawk Newsome of New York into custody and charged them with obstruction, officials said.

Saturday’s planned protest would be the fourth in five days as community activists continue to demand an explanation for Lowery’s death. The 27-year-old city resident, who said during a 911 call that he took too much Ecstasy, recorded a frantic video at police headquarters on Jan. 5 during which he claimed police officers were trying to kill him.

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Meek Lowery live-streamed this video on Facebook from the Paterson police HQ, describing himself as "paranoid." He was hospitalized and died two days later.
Video courtesy of Lowery's family

Lowery ended up on life-support last weekend and died on Monday. His family members and some city activists have claimed he was beaten to death by police.

Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale said he would be convening a meeting at 11 a.m. to prepare for Saturday’s rally.

“I’m going to be there to make sure nothing happens,” said Speziale. “The protesters will be allowed to express their opinions.”

Thomas, a Paterson school teacher who unsuccessfully ran for city council last May, could not be reached for comment on Saturday morning. He announced his release on his Facebook page late Friday night.

“On Tuesday instead of answers, they gave us mace,” Thomas wrote on Facebook regarding a confrontation between protesters and police earlier in the week. “Today when we wanted to know what happened to Jameek at the Paterson Police Department, they brought us there, cuffed.”

“You can jail a revolutionary, but you can’t jail the revolution,” Thomas added.

Jameek Lowery case: More video

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